Blazing Stars and Icy Winds
by Breanna.Mel
Summary: After they are get lost on patrol, Akila and Sheik find themselves faced by two dark figures who are chasing them for reasons unknown. Forced to use Shadow Magic Akila hasn't used without help from her mentor Impa, she tries hard to not to lose any limbs.


**A/N: So this is my second story. It's set in the same timeline as Flowers, but this is years ago, showing the interaction with Akila and Sheik (Princess Zelda). Though in here Sheik/Princess Zelda is younger than Akila, who went into a ten year sleep after Impa died to become the Royal Shadow. It's kind of confusing, but all you need to know is that Sheik is ten and Akila is fifteen.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sheik, not even young Sheik. *sigh* Now I'm depressed...**

**Anyways, Enjoy!**

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Stars blazed in the night sky.

Icy wind cut through her thin cloak and she pulled the edges together. Sakhr's breath clouded in long puffs, she snorted at her rider.

"I know girl, we are almost there."

Her head wrappings loosened as the wind pulled at them and she quickly tried to grab them, but her fingers were numb and she could do no more than to pull it off her head and slip it into the pouch on Sakhr's side so she wouldn't lose it. Her long, pointed ears were caught in the unforgiving wind and flattened to her head. She winced and ducked her head to the wind.

Sakhr snorted again and looked back at her rider, _See, we should have listened to the Impa, _she seemed to be saying. They were hopelessly lost, a wrong turn at the Great Tree and they ended up in the Forbidden Woods.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. And what do you know? You're a horse," her rider retorted.

Sakhr snorted and faced forward again. Her rider rolled her eyes and breathed into her hands, her warm breathe was lost in the howling wind and streamed out behind her into her companion, who sat brooding into a sulky silence, like he usually did when they were on patrol. His black horse, Khaled, followed Sakhr easily.

"Look lively, Sheik. We have company."

Ten year-old Sheik sat up completely and looked at Sakhr's rider in interest. "Where are they, Akila?"

"Ahead," Akila replied simply.

Sheik pulled his horse up beside Sakhr who observed Khaled out of the corner of her eye. "How do you know?" He sounded slightly awestruck at the fifteen year-old's hyper-senses. Akila signaled Sakhr to stop and Sheik pulled up Khaled too. "How do you know?" he repeated, excited to learn more.

Akila held a finger to her lip, and then to her ear. Sheik closed his eyes and tipped his head to the side. Akila leaned across the small gap between their horses and whispered to him, "Do you hear it?"

Sheik opened his eyes and nodded, his red eyes were bright with excitement.

Akila nodded her head satisfied. "Good, now, do you recognize who it is?"

Sheik shook his head slowly, looking disappointed. Akila leaned over and ruffled Sheik's hair. "I don't either."

Sheik looked at her in shock. "You don't?"

Akila chuckled, "No." Then she swung off of Sakhr, her feet disappearing in the tall, cool, grass. The wind was still howling around her ears, pulling at her cloak and whipping the brown hair that had come loose from her braid into her eyes. "Now, did they pass this clearing already, or are they coming towards us?"

Sheik jumped off Khaled and walked over to stand by Akila. "They haven't passed us yet," he said confidently.

Akila's eyes shone, "Right, and how do you know?"

Sheik raised an arm to take in the small clearing. "There is no sign of their passing here. The grass is undisturbed and there are no broken branches."

"Good, but what if they are as good at going past unnoticed as us Sheikah?" Akila prompted.

Sheik looked troubled for a second, then brightened. "Their voices are getting closer."

Akila smiled at him. "Very good. Now, since we don't know who they are, and they could very well be some kind of monsters, there have been a lot of thieves sighted in here and-"

"Gerudo thieves?" Sheik interrupted.

Akila shrugged. "No one knows, it could be, but it might not be. Either way," Akila patted Sakhr's flank and Sakhr turned around and trotted back the way they came, digging her hooves in the ground harder to make it seem like there was still a rider on her.

Sheik looked at Khaled, who was looking back at him, unimpressed. "Well go on then," Sheik smirked. Khaled snorted, butted his head against Sheik affectionately, then tossed his head and acted like nothing happened. Sheik rolled his eyes and patted Khaled's flank as he trotted past.

Sakhr looked at Khaled reproachfully. Khaled stomped his way over to her, as much as a horse could, and dug his hooves in the ground hard. Sakhr looked back at Akila as if saying: _You're sticking me with _this _idiot?_

Akila shrugged and Sakhr tossed her head and lead the way from the clearing.

Sheik was staring at Khaled appallingly. Akila nudged him with her elbow and he turned to look at her, his face a study in disgust. She raised an eyebrow at him and he shook his head in repulsion. "Now they will think that I'm the size of King Zora with the way Khaled is trotting."

Akila laughed. Sheik elbowed her; she grabbed him in a headlock. "Hey! Cut it out!" he cried, scrabbling to get a hold on her arm. She laughed let go of him, ruffling his hair.

He reached up to flatten it, then punched her in the arm. Akila laughed, her voice musical, but stopped abruptly, the sound falling to the ground in a catastrophic crash of musical notes. She grabbed his arm hard enough to leave a bruise and dragged him into the bushes. "I can't believe they got here so fast." She cursed and Sheik looked at her, wide-eyed and scared.

"What are we going to do?" he whispered, terrified.

Akila held a finger up to her lips and pushed Sheik further to the ground, then she raised herself up slightly to see over the bush they were crouched behind.

Two dark shadowy figures rode into sight on black horses. One swung down from the war saddle that was on a huge stallion. He squatted down and looked around, his cape billowing out behind him in the cold wind. His voice was deep and echoed through Akila, "They were here."

The other figure looked down at her companion. "Tell me something I do not know," her voice was deep as well, but feminine.

The male stood and swung back up onto his horse with ease. He looked to be about seventeen, but he was a giant of a man, easily towering over six feet, there was a sort of sword in his hand, the kind that Akila usually associated with the Gerudo. His hair was a fiery red and there was a slight glow about him, probably some kind of protection spell.

"They stopped here and left that way," he pointed the way the Sheikah horses had left.

The female shook her head, "No, they are still here. I can feel it."

The male grinned wolfishly. "Shall I do the honours?"

The woman shook her head slightly, with something akin to disgust on her face. "Remember, we need them alive." She sounded like she had said this many times.

The man laughed. "I have a perfect memory. I don't need you reminding me every two minutes, _woman._"

Sheik pushed himself up beside Akila but she shoved him back down, her eyes were dark warning.

The woman flicked her wrist and the man suddenly stiffened, his limbs contorting. The air hummed with the sound of magic and the smell of lightening filled the air. The woman relaxed her wrist and the man slumped in his saddle, his eyes looked like green fire. "I am well aware of that, Fado," she spat. "But I was fearful that maybe you had forgotten in the time it took to get from the desert to here."

"I am your leader!" The man, Fado, roared.

The woman sneered at Fado, "You may be, in eight years, _boy._"

Fado scowled and his neck turned red at the rebuke. "Do you want me to do it or not?" he growled.

"Go ahead, _boy,_" she seemed to be enjoying herself, "Just don't mess up like last time."

The red on Fado's neck darkened. "What do you think I am? Green?"

The woman let out a bark of humourless laughter, "There are days I do not know what to think of you."

Fado cursed, his neck now matched his hair, which made him look almost tomato-like. Akila would have laughed if he wasn't so intimidating.

The hum of magic started again and Akila recognized the words of an ancient curse that Impa had taught her to never use.

Her eyes widened and she grabbed Sheik's hand and shot her other hand into the ground between them. It disappeared into the inky blackness that appeared. She pulled out her hand and flexed it. She wasn't missing any fingers like when she had first tried to do a Katoaa with Impa. Apparently it was common to lose limbs and extremities when doing a Katoaa if you didn't concentrate completely.

Sheik let out an inaudible gasp as dark black lines started to trace their way up Akila's arm, they were Katoaa symbols, Impa had taught Akila how to read them. She recognized a couple of symbols, but as they were tracing their way up her arm they felt like cold ice was running through her veins. Sheik opened and closed his mouth a couple of times as the black lines started to crawl up her neck from beneath her cloak. As they reached her cheekbone, Akila could hear Fado start to get to the end of his curse.

She willed the lines to hurry. It finally reached her hairline and started up onto her scalp. But now, Akila's whole body felt as if it was aflame with icy fire.

Akila pushed Sheik into the pool of murky shadows as the bush they were sheltering behind exploded. Sheik pulled Akila in after him, the roar of Fado followed them into the Katoaa and echoed around their ears loudly, then the entrance to the Katoaa vanished, taking Fado's red angry face and curses with it.

Though Akila was to busy to notice Fado as she was concentrating on making sure Sheik and her didn't lose any limbs. There were many ways to leave from the Katoaa, but Akila started to feel heat come from the ending of the black lines that were on her scalp and trace its way down to her face, and she new she only had a matter of seconds to choose a way out. She turned in the murkiness and pulled Sheik behind her to the nearest exit.

They tumbled out of a large oak tree and into a clearing, there was a river running to the right, falling over itself in its haste to plummet over the waterfall nearby. Half of Akila's skin burned like the desert sun and the other half felt like it her veins were filled with frost.

"We must be in Zora territory," Akila announced, looking around, taking in the angry river and willow trees.

Sheik sat down, hard. "Why were they looking for us?" he croaked, looking shell-shocked and more than a little lost.

Akila sat down beside her brother-like best friend, "I don't know."

Sheik shuddered violently and buried his face in Akila's shoulder, there were times that she forgot that he was only ten, but not at the moment. Akila leaned forward slightly, sparks danced on her fingertips and she pressed it into the ground, sparking a fire and emitting a comfortable heat. She leaned back and wrapped both arms around Sheik.

There was a dampness against Akila's shoulder and when, hours later, there was a soft snort, followed by an Earth-shattering snore, she smiled.

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**I think that young Sheik is adorable. I don't know if Fado and his mysterious female companion will be making an apperance in another story.**

**Did you like it? I think I rushed it a little towards the end, but that could be just me and my harsh editing, and the fact that this has been sitting in my documents for a week, unfinished, and I had the irresistable urge to finish it, if albiet fast.**

**Thanks for reading, if you made it to the end.**


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